California Politics: Antonio Villaraigosa is Newsom’s new infrastructure czar

Gov. Gavin Newsom declared Antonio Villaraigosa his new infrastructure czar Thursday in a shrewd political maneuver that brings one in all his hardest rivals into the fold of his administration.

“Maintain your folks shut and your enemies nearer” had been the primary phrases that got here to thoughts after I heard the information.

That could be a little bit of a dramatic aptitude, however it’s no exaggeration to say that Villaraigosa and his surrogates have been among the many governor’s most outspoken critics in a celebration that prefers to muffle their disapproval of the highly effective politician and reward him publicly.

For Newsom, it may very well be sensible politics to attempt to neutralize intraparty critics when you’re positioning your self as a potential Democratic presidential contender.

“He’s clearly attempting to consolidate Democratic voices,” stated Steven Maviglio, a Democratic communications strategist.

A ‘lengthy overdue’ partnership

Newsom stated “we’re fortunate to have” Villaraigosa at a information convention on drought the place he introduced the appointment. He lauded Villaraigosa’s potential to attract down federal funding as mayor and stated he’ll work with native and state leaders to try this once more as an infrastructure advisor.

“We’ve got assets,” Newsom stated. “We’ve got grants that we are able to match in an effort to draw down these funds, and we’ve bought somebody who’s going on the market and hustling to get them.”

Villaraigosa stated he was “honored to be working with” Newsom and praised his “game-changing” new drought plan.

However the relationship hasn’t at all times been so complimentary.

Although Villaragoisa positioned a distant third behind Newsom and Republican John Cox within the 2018 gubernatorial main, he mounted a harder marketing campaign towards the governor than every other candidate. Working to the proper of Newsom, Villaraigosa accused him of “promoting snake oil” along with his promise to enact a statewide single-payer healthcare system that the previous L.A. mayor thought-about a pipe dream.

Tensions continued to linger after the election.

The governor’s political crew reacted swiftly when Villaraigosa tweeted final 12 months that California wanted to reopen colleges within the early days of the recall marketing campaign. The missive created hypothesis that the previous mayor would possibly run as a alternative candidate within the race.

That appeared to spook Newsom’s advisors whose technique to beat the recall hinged on their potential to maintain all different well-known Democrats off the poll and guarantee voters didn’t have any viable options to decide on. Doing so allowed them to keep away from a possible repeat of the much-debated Cruz Bustamante impact on the profitable 2003 recall of former Gov. Grey Davis.

Sean Clegg, Newsom’s prime political advisor, tweeted that Villaraigosa would “embarrass himself and endlessly poison his legacy if he runs.”

On the time, Mike Madrid, a Republican political advisor to Villaraigosa, stated the aggressive response urged Newsom’s standing amongst voters won’t be as sturdy as many thought. Months later a July ballot discovered voters had been divided on the recall and, no less than briefly, Madrid may need been proper. By that point Villaraigosa had already determined to not enter the race.

There’s one other aspect to the Villaraigosa equation: Newsom’s government secretary, Jim DeBoo.

Lengthy earlier than he accepted a place as Newsom’s chief of workers in late 2020, DeBoo served because the statehouse consultant for then-Mayor Villaraigosa.

That relationship might have made it simpler to dealer an settlement for Newsom and Villaraigosa to work collectively as a substitute of towards one another.

“I feel it’s lengthy overdue,” stated Madrid, who labored for Villaraigosa’s gubernatorial marketing campaign. “I feel they’ll do some nice issues and get quite a bit executed.”

Who’s paying him?

Newsom’s press store stated Villaraigosa’s place “is supported by a partnership with California Ahead, which is able to collaborate with him and members of the administration on native engagement efforts.”

By supported, it means the nonprofit is paying him $175,000 for 5 months of labor, in accordance with particulars California Ahead offered concerning the contract.

The governor’s workplace didn’t reply to questions on why the state wanted California Ahead to pay his wage.

Micah Weinberg, chief government of the nonprofit centered on enhancing authorities efficiency and financial progress, described the pay association as “a extremely high-profile and fascinating model of a factor that occurs quite a bit.”

“I’m most accustomed to it after we started the implementation of the Reasonably priced Care Act and authorities didn’t have all of the staffing so they’d completely different healthcare foundations pay for various positions,” Weinberg stated. “So it is a fairly widespread factor.”

I additionally requested the governor’s workplace if the state was paying Villaraigosa in any respect for his work. If not, Newsom’s new infrastructure czar might not be required to reveal his financial pursuits as different advisors within the administration do.

The governor’s workplace informed me the state will not be paying him. Nonetheless, “Villaraigosa shall be submitting a Type 700,” they stated.

Elected officers and public staff who make or affect governmental selections are required to submit a Type 700 on an annual foundation. The shape is meant to supply details about somebody’s private monetary pursuits to extend transparency about any potential conflicts of curiosity.

The governor’s workplace additionally declined to reply a query about whether or not Villaraigosa would take a five-month break from his day job as a companion at Actum, a public affairs and consulting agency.

Actum was fashioned by former U.S. Sen Barbara Boxer, former state Meeting Speaker Fabian Nuñez, Villaraigosa and others after their contentious break up with Mercury Public Affairs.

The corporate’s lobbying shoppers on the state Capitol embody the California Constitution Faculties Assn., Dart Container Corp. and Clorox Co., amongst others. Villaraigosa will not be a registered lobbyist in California.

No sleep ‘til September

Any hopes of a quiet finish to the legislative session had been dashed this week when Newsom determined to take his battle with oil corporations to the state Capitol.

After Western States Petroleum Assn. ran advertisements in Florida criticizing Newsom’s environmental polices, the governor known as on the California Legislature to harden the state’s local weather and vitality objectives.

The important thing proposals in Newsom’s five-point want listing would enshrine in regulation a aim to attain statewide carbon neutrality no later than 2045 and a setback distance requirement of three,200 ft between new oil and gasoline wells and houses and colleges with enhanced air pollution controls for present wells.

Newsom has already set in movement a few of the tenets of his local weather plan by government orders or directives to his administration. Related makes an attempt from lawmakers to cross payments to require buffer zones round oil wells and enhance objectives to scale back greenhouse gasses failed within the state Senate in recent times.

The governor was noticeably absent from these prior legislative fights, which allowed oil corporations, commerce unions and average lawmakers within the higher home to squash the laws.

This time round, Newsom is “all in,” in accordance with his spokesman Anthony York.

Many anticipate the success of the proposals to hinge on how the governor defines these two phrases and whether or not he leaves lawmakers to hold out his needs alone or rolls up his sleeves and leads from the entrance traces of what might grow to be a bitter legislative battle.

Current uncommon appearances of their caucus conferences gave some advocates hope that along with his assist environmentalists would possibly pull out a win towards the oil business this 12 months.

California politics lightning spherical

— Greater than a 12 months after newly unionized child-care suppliers in California signed their first-ever contract with the state, a push to “retire with dignity” has moved to the highest of the 40,000-member group’s precedence listing.

— Monkeypox circumstances are rising exponentially in some LGBTQ communities, dimming hopes that officers can rapidly achieve management of the virus that has the potential to determine an enduring foothold in america. Federal officers this week introduced that they are going to stretch restricted vaccine provides by giving simply one-fifth the present dosage, in impact quintupling the provision of monkeypox vaccine for hard-hit areas comparable to Los Angeles County and San Francisco.

— The College of California provided admission to 19% fewer out-of-state residents as final 12 months and to a file variety of first-year undergraduates from the Golden State for fall 2022.

— This information tells California mother and father learn how to entry CalKIDS, a taxpayer-funded scholarship program geared toward serving to youngsters begin saving for faculty from the day they’re born. This system, which launched Wednesday, grants as much as $100 robotically to each youngster born in California on or after July 1 and as much as $1,500 robotically to each eligible low-income scholar.

— The state of San Bernardino: County supervisors are gearing as much as ask native voters in a November poll measure whether or not they need to research “all choices to acquire its justifiable share of state and federal assets, as much as and together with secession.” Fueled partially with frustrations over the quantity of funding the county receives from the state, the board desires to discover an unlikely secessionist motion that might finally want approval from state legislators, Congress and the president.